Create a tar file for compressing files and directories on Mac OS X

Solution 1:

OSX ships with tar. From the Terminal, you can do this:

tar czf archive_folder_name.tar.gz folder_to_copy

Replace archive_folder_name.tar.gz with whatever you want to call the newly created archive, and folder_to_copy with whatever is the name of the folder you want to archive.

Solution 2:

If you are looking for a GUI solution, simply use the compress command fron the contextual menu.

If you are interested in command-line solutions, several options are possible.

You may of course use the tar command.

tar -zcvf archive.tar.gz folder

But if you are sharing archives, some people may prefer a zip file, that you could create with the zip command

zip -r archive.zip folder

Solution 3:

I think I found the option:

Right-click on the folder that you want to compress.

Compress option is available.